On Thursday, September 19, 2002, at 1:03:25 PM PST, I wrote: > Obviously collisions can happen - like with the recent fishing boat > incident - but from my experience, the whales have a very good sense > of where my wee boaty is in relation to themselves, and they're very > good at avoiding collisions. One more thing I'll mention...and I don't know if this might have anything to do with the above mentioned fishing boat incident or not... When whales were being killed nearly to extinction, Gray Whales were often called "Devil Fish", because they destroyed so many whaling boats (and in the process, killed many whalers). I think several species were known for doing the same. It's pretty well understood now that the whales were acting defensively against people who were trying to harm (kill) them and their young. Any species would be thought less of by us if they didn't do all they could to defend themselves and their families from similar hostile acts. A few years ago, when the Makah up the coast from here were "hunting" and eventually killed a Gray Whale, all the migrating whales disappeared long before they usually would, and even the locals, who are normally curious and "friendly", maintained a *very* low profile for a few weeks...avoiding all boats, and basically staying completely out of sight. I'd been paddling with the whales nearly every day for years, and the post-kill instant change in behavior, especially at that very "social" time of year for the whales, was striking. I forgot which type of fishing boat was involved in the recent incident with the whale, but I'm wondering if the fishermen's activities might have been interpreted as being hostile for some reason? Sometimes, just the method of fishing or crabbing can be invasive to the feeding/breeding/lounging grounds of whales and other species, and unfortunately, there are also some fishermen, crabbers, etc. who will shoot seals and other species if they feel that "their catch" is being threatened by them. I've seen dead seals and harbor porpoises washed up with shotgun wounds. I'm not saying that without a doubt the whale vs. fishing boat incident was a result of intentional hostile acts on the part of the fishermen, but I'm at least wondering if their activities could have been interpreted as hostile by the whale. I'm also pretty sure that *if* the fishermen were up to something they shouldn't have been doing (shooting at a seal, whale, etc. perhaps?), they wouldn't have mentioned it (such acts being quite illegal), and such a thing would never have made it to an article about the incident unless there were third party witnesses. Just a thought. -- Melissa *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Sep 20 2002 - 12:33:38 PDT
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